Italian Rap Culture - What Went Wrong?

PART 1 - The Birth

I strongly feel that i'm part of the Hip Hop Generation...HH made me who i am today and my musical influences are mainly from this culture....when people ask me "what music do you listen?" i usually answer "errthing but i buy only HH related albums"...come to think of it, i have to be honest, it's been a long time since i set foot in a music store but anyway....

Since i spent most of my life so far in Italy, Rome more precisely, and attented the Lycee Chateaubriand (french school) | Big up to all Chateaubriannais reading this | i had the amazing chance to listen to US, French and Italian rap music...not only to listen but also understanding the culture behind the movement.....all 3 have more or less the same source socially speaking but expressed themselves differently....


In an earlier SOD* post i said that Italian rap was first influenced by punk movement in Italy...punk rock movement more precisely...the centri sociali were converted empty spaces that young squatters used as base of activity in order to express their opinion and spread it...generally with anarchist vision, these squatters would have round tables discussion on political issues, social issues but not only..they also used the centri sociali as radio broadcasting stations, movie theatres, art creation centers (litterature, photography, music, art in general)...just to be clear on this, the phenomenon of the centri sociali occured in Italy in the early 70's when the youg generation felt left behind...the rap movement started from these centri as a tool to acknowledge social rights, but only in the late 80's...


for more info on the centri sociali - italian link

As far as i can remember, the first italian rap title i heard, bought, knew by heart, and played over and over was Maria Maria from Articolo 31....highly commercial song with an interesting metaphor and story telling by J-Ax..during the same period, early 90's, Jovanotti was considered as a rap artist (which is not the case in my opinion) but he was the one definetly to launch italian rap to a mainstream level...i was 14 and spent most of my money and time on US HH, so i had access only to the commercial italian rap i would hear on the radio or see on tv...too bad for me, because the underground side of italian HH was booming, big names (undergroundly speaking) like Neffa, Dj Gruff, Assalti Frontali, Sangue Misto, 99 Posse, La Fossa, Sud Sound System (reggae/hip hop) and many others were already around making history in the underground world...i listened to them afterwards only...

Articolo 31


Neffa & Messageri Della Dopa





PART 2 - Bitten By The Rap Bee!

As many teenagers, i had my share of wanting to become a great rap artist some day...i used to write...my older brothers were rapping for fun (big up to Kool-G-MTC | Big D.S | Doudou MC)....djing (big up to Dj Moc-Fu | R.I.P. Dj Steezo)....friends were making grafittis (Stone | Kong | Skorpio | Spy | Caine | PSM what'up! | PAC)....tried a duo with Lesco -Funkstaz- but never had it in us to do it properly (i still hear my parents "Education first!!" ahahaha)....my artist name was Razbitum...given by Lesco's older brother, Doudou MC...he is actually the only one still raping (check him out here or download his NetTape here).

Good thing or bad thing, the Lycee Chateaubriand is located near Piazza Flaminio, a square which was a gathering place for the Flaminio Maphia Crew...by passing in front of them errday i had a chance to chill out with them, know them, squatt with them, freestyle with them, party with them, club with them...Flaminio Maphia (G-Max & Rude Mc) were the official rappers of the crew...you had breakers and graffers as well...here is where my love for italian HH started.............

To be continued...